Uproar in Parliament over controversial remarks by ministers

New Delhi, Feb 20: Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress leader Sachin Sawant on Thursday said that the same BJP who tried to pressurise government lawyers so that the accused in the Malegaon bomb blast case, Samjhauta express case can be let off are now demanding that there should be a re-investigation in the 26/11 terror attacks, this is the biggest irony.

"By demanding that the case be re-investigated the BJP which gave a ticket to Pragya Thakur who was accused in the Malegaon blast case, has insulted all those brave police, the army who fought bravely. BJP should apologise to all those people," he said.

"If the BJP were serious about re-investigating the case why didn't they do it when they were in power in the state and the Centre? Was the government sleeping for the last five years? asked Maharashtra Congress committee's general secretary, Sachin Sawant.

"Rather than this, the BJP should ask for a fair inquiry in the incident where a Kashmir police officer Davindar Singh was caught in the company of terrorists and also, the role of the Sangh Parivar in the Malegaon Blasts," said Sawant.

Sawant said that BJP has crossed all limits while lying and it has stooped to the lowest levels of political discourse and is not thinking twice before defaming the Opposition.

In the book written by the retired police officer Rakesh Maria doesn't have anything other than what was there in the charge sheet on Ajmal Kasab. In his confession, Kasab has said that he was given an ID card with a Hindu name and also a red coloured thread by the Lashkar-e-taiba.

Because of this forged identity, they would be able to dodge the police. All these details have been clearly mentioned in the Kasab's confession.

Maria has mentioned in his book that if Kasab was not caught alive, the media would have declared him as a Hindu. Maria hasn't said that there was any kind of government pressure or any other conspiracy behind it. He was only talking about the media and also given all the details in the charge sheet. The BJP is only using this as a political tool in their low-class politics.

The leader added that, "The letter written by BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar to CM Uddhav Thackeray has crossed all limits of lying. The Congress government in Maharashtra had formed a committee under retired home secretary Ram Pradhan to probe the 26/11 attack."

On the basis of an interview given by Ram Pradhan to a national daily on the 10th anniversary of the 26/11, he has levelled baseless allegations on former Central Home minister P Chidambaram, he added.

Bhatkhalkar in his letter has said that Chidambaram had asked Ram Pradhan to not to disclose the local connection that was found in the conspiracy. In fact, there is no such mention in the interview given by Ram Pradhan. Pradhan has said in the interview that Chidambaram wanted to see the report. Hence along with the report, some sensitive information was sent to the department separately and those were overlooked. After some time news related to David Headley had surfaced.

Ram Pradhan committee was not set up by the Centre but was set up by the state government and so it was not mandatory for the Centre to inform Ram Pradhan whether cognisance was taken regarding the sensitive information.

"In was during the Congress government that the first terrorist was caught alive due to the bravery of the police force and after following all the due procedures a verdict to hang him was given," said Sawant..

"Everyone has appreciated India's legal system in which even a terrorist was allowed to give his side," he added.

New Delhi, May 11: Shares of Indian Railway Catering And Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) jumped 5 per cent in early trade on Monday after the Indian Railways said it will gradually resume passenger train services from May 12.

The company's shares gained 5 per cent to Rs 1,302.85 -- its highest trading permissible limit for the day -- on the BSE. At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), it rose 5 per cent to Rs 1,303.55 -- its upper circuit limit.

Booking for reservation in these trains will start at 4pm on May 11 and will be available only on the IRCTC website.

The Indian Railways will gradually resume passenger train services from May 12 and will ask passengers to arrive at the station at least an hour before departure, the national transporter said on Sunday.

Initially, the all air-conditioned services will begin on 15 Rajdhani routes and the fare would be equivalent to that of the super-fast train, it said.

The special trains will run from New Delhi to Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.

All passenger services were suspended due to a lockdown announced on March 25 and the railways later started the on-demand Shramik Specials to ferry migrants stranded across the country. It, however, has been running freight and parcel services.

New Delhi, Feb 5: Kapil Baisala who opened fired at the Shaheen Bagh protest site last week is a member of the Aam Aadmi Party, police said on Tuesday, sparking a war of words between the BJP and the AAP.

While the BJP accused Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of "playing" with the security of the country, the AAP hit back, stating the saffron party was indulging "dirty politics".

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Rajesh Deo said that Baisala and his father joined the AAP in early 2019.

Baisala's family, however, refuted the police's claim.

Kapil Baisala's uncle Fatesh Singh told PTI, "I have no idea where these photographs are circulating from. My nephew Kapil had no association with any political party nor does any other member from the family. My brother, Gaje Singh, (Baisala's father) fought assembly elections in 2008 on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket and lost. After that no one from our family had any links with any political party."

Singh added that Baisala also doesn't have friends associated with the AAP or any other political party.

Gaje had also contested the 2012 civic body polls from the BSP, the police said.

The police officer said they seized Baisala's mobile phone and retrieved WhatsApp data.

On Saturday, Baisala fired two rounds in air at Shaheen Bagh. According to eyewitnesses, the man shouted "Hindu Rashtra Zindabad" and fired two rounds.

He was overpowered by the police and later arrested.

In the pictures, it was seen that he and his father joined the party in the presence of Atishi Marlena, Sanjay Singh and other leaders, sources said.

The police said on Thursday, Baisala, along with his friend Sarthak Larolla, went to Shaheen Bagh from his village on a bike.

Through CCTV footage, it was found they took the DND flyover, Maharani Bagh, Sarai Jullena and reached Holy Family hospital, a senior police officer said.

"Baisala was not comfortable on the bike as he had hidden the pistol near his waist. They entered the hospital's parking where he adjusted the pistol, used the washroom and headed towards Shaheen Bagh," the senior official added.

When they reached the protest site, Larolla left the spot with the motorcycle and Baisala's mobile phone. Later, Baisala fired two rounds in the air and was apprehended. The weapon was recovered from near the spot, the police said.

Larolla joined the investigation and the mobile phone was seized from his residence.

Baisala has been remanded to police remand for two days.

He had bought the pistol around seven years ago for his brother's marriage. The source of the weapon from where he procured it is yet to identified, police said.

The sources said Baisala was previously also involved in firing incident but was never caught nor was a case registered against him.

Hitting out at the AAP, BJP president J P Nadda accused Kejriwal of playing with the security of the country and said that the people will give the party a befitting reply.

"I want to make clear to Kejriwal that this country is bigger than any election, any government, and the country will not forgive those who play with its security. The people of Delhi will give a befitting reply," Nadda tweeted.

Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh asked on whose directions was the Delhi Police accusing his party.

"Before the police revealed it (Baisala being an AAP member), how did BJP's Delhi president Manoj Tiwari come to know about it," Singh asked and accused the police of maligning the party.